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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful British Columbia
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 10, 2010 - 01:01pm PT
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2 days to go till the start of the games ! The temps are cooling down thankfully as it has been the warmest January on record I think, up here.
The BBC has printed a rather grim article, though entirely true, about Vancouver today. I am sure there will be a lot more said about the bad side of our sometimes not so fair city in the days to come
Vancouver: 'Drug Central' of North America
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8505061.stm
Fortunately the athletes will be more heavily monitored than the criminals
Olympic doping lab world's most sophisticated
http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/story/2010/02/09/spo-doping-ayotette.html
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Feb 10, 2010 - 01:16pm PT
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So Bruce, or somebody in Vancouver, how did Olympic snow events wind up being scheduled for Vancouver's North Shore ski hills, which haven't reliably held show since the last ice age?
Tami's image of changing the Snowboarding event to Hayboarding is pretty funny,
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 10, 2010 - 01:26pm PT
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One of the amusing things about the Olympics is that we keep getting told that the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events will occur at a place called "Cypress Mountain", on the north shore of Vancouver. The difficulty being that there is no such place.
There is a Cypress Provincial Park on the north shore. It is made up of three mountains (hills) - Black Mountain, Mount Strachan, and Hollyburn Mountain - and the valley between them, which is known as Cypress Bowl. So-called Cypress Bowl because there are 800+ year old yellow cedars on the southwest side of Mount Hollyburn. Serious big old trees, right above the road.
There is a commercial ski operation which operates downhill lifts on Black Mountain and Mount Strachan, and a cross-country area on Mount Hollyburn - Tami will perhaps tell us about the latter. The company calls itself Cypress Mountain, but none of the mountains have that name. You could say that events will occur on Black Mountain, or Mount Strachan, or at Cypress Provincial Park, but it is inaccurate to say that they will occur at "Cypress Mountain".
To add to this geographical confusion, there is a Cypress Peak about 30 km southwest of Whistler. It is visible from the Squamish-Whistler highway, much of the Callaghan Valley, and from parts of Whistler itself.
Yesterday the NYT had an article on the dearth of snow at Cypress Bowl, allegedly taken at "Cypress Mountain". In fact, it was taken on Black Mountain. The lack of snow there isn't surprising - probably two years in ten there is lots of snow there, two out of ten not a lot, and the rest are OK. The so-called green Olympics has taken to trucking and even flying snow in from Manning Provincial Park, 250 km east of here, to make up the deficit. Heaven knows what the impacts will be.
Cypress Bowl has a long and troubled history, beginning with it being logged (high graded) in the 1960s, which led to widespread protests, some of the first environmental protests in this area. It was then made a provincial park, with the ski area built on the clear cuts. Always somewhat marginal in terms of climate and weather conditions - the Olympics people can't say current conditions were a big surprise. The ski area was clumsily privatized in the mid 1980s, and given to an aggressive operator that was quite territorial. That led to things like "ski-ins" at the cross country area, and even arrests. In the 1990s, that owner proposed what it called a "master concept plan" and everyone else called a "monster concept plan". It essentially proposed unfettered commercial development in the park, notwithstanding the marginalities, and even sued the government. Sometime later the company was sold to a somewhat more civilized owner, and changed its name from Cypress Bowl Recreations to the geographically-inapt Cypress Mountain.
The sometimes uneasy history between Whistler/Blackcomb and the great wilderness of Garibaldi Provincial Park to its east is another matter. Suffice to say that the park was established in 1927, and first Whistler (since the mid-1960s) and then Blackcomb (early 1980s) have steadily encroached on the park. Facilities and operations. Some say it is symbiotic, some say parasitic. It overall seems to have benefited the companies much more than the park, and once again illustrates the fine balance that must be found between protection of parks and their values, and use. Not so very different from the debate highlighted in the NPR series on US national parks last fall.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
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Feb 10, 2010 - 01:35pm PT
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bmacd -
Just read an article last night online about how they're rounding up the homeless there to try to keep them out of the spotlight's way. East Vancouver was where it was happening.
Here's a similar article, not as in depth as the one I came across (damn you twitter and your instant info, can't find it now):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100210/lf_afp/oly2010canpovertycrime_20100210040405
That said, you still have an awesome city and it will be a killer Olympics. Can't wait. I love the winter.
You do have a lovely fair city, despite the challenges mentioned in this thread. I think many folks would love to be residents of Vancouver. It's one of the most gorgeous cities in North America. Jeez, just being that close to Squamish & Whistler alone gives me envy, not to mention universal health care! :)
Props to you guys - put on a killer great Olympics! Rooting for ya (except for events, in which I'm rooting for the USA).
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Feb 10, 2010 - 01:37pm PT
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well,
despite the issues, i am pulling for a very great and successful olympics. i will be watching my 58" plasma in HD.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 10, 2010 - 01:55pm PT
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I met with some clients (non-profits) in the downtown eastside of Vancouver last week, and they said nothing about "round-ups". It is the sort of thing that the rumour mill there would quickly propagate, e.g. if someone's buddy got picked up for legitimate reasons, by the time the story got transmitted to the fifth or sixth person, it might be considerable exaggerated. It's a sad and strange place, and victimhood is a large part of its culture.
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MH2
climber
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Feb 10, 2010 - 02:03pm PT
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I thought snowboarders were rough cut. Wouldn't they prefer hay, maybe pour some oil on it?
There is genuine excitement in town. Can't be avoided when crowds form. But there is another view that our taxes get diverted and in exchange for that we receive encouragement to wear red clothes as an expression of Canadian pride.
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Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
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Feb 10, 2010 - 02:07pm PT
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round up your homeless....otherwise, Palin will use those images to say "look, canadians may have free healthcare but they are all homeless! i know, because canada is my next door neighbor and they keep climbing the fences trying to get to alaska!"
trust me on this one...
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful British Columbia
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 10, 2010 - 02:21pm PT
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Fattrad, you could make a fortune up here with consulting services
One of the athletes I'll be cheering for is my former Whistler neighbors niece, Ashleigh McIvor a Ski Cross champion. (I lived in Whistler for 17 years)
I'll be out and about with my camera soon and try to capture some images of the Vancouver festivities for ST viewers !
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 10, 2010 - 02:22pm PT
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My general thoughts are that:
 We're in for the ride, might as well enjoy it.
The total bill will undoubtedly be at least twice what we've been told, and there will undoubtedly be hidden financial scandals.
Some useful infrastructure work got done, though how much of a priority it was. and whether we got good value, is another matter.
Vancouver and Whistler had no need to further promote themselves.
Looking at a 20+ year time frame, we were bound to have the winter Olympics sooner or later. So we're getting it over with.
There will undoubtedly be lots of disruption in the city, over the next few days particularly.
The only things worth watching (if I had a TV - sorry, Beth) are cross country, biathlon, ski jumping, most sled sports, long track skating and related things.
As a professional sport, hockey shouldn't be included in the Olympics. It has nothing to do with the so-called ideals of the games, which are in fact a rather commercial and authoritarian thing.
I'd rather watch paint dry than watch figure skating, short track speed skating (roller derby), or curling.
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful British Columbia
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 10, 2010 - 02:27pm PT
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The original premise for getting Whistler Mtn going as a ski area was to hold the Olympics there.
I really regret selling my place there ...
In spite of my opening post, I am very pro Olympics !
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful British Columbia
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 10, 2010 - 02:40pm PT
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Radical Riley, you are absolutely Right.
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hafilax
Trad climber
East Van
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Feb 10, 2010 - 02:41pm PT
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I thought it was more than a little optimistic to have the winter olympics in Vancouver. I felt that it was pushed by Whistler (in my conspiracy theory mind: bribed). AFAIK there is a maximum distance between the host city and the mountain on which the events take place. Whistler is pushing this quite a bit given the 2hr drive. They had to have a certain number of events on the Shore.
This is the worst snow year I've seen since I moved here in '98. I'm sure that they thought that they would at least be able to make snow at night but it's been just too warm. Man made snow is usually better for competition because it is hard making for consistency between runs. My prediction when they announced was that there would be too much snow giving no visibility at least on Whistler.
How about the auctioning off of Intrawest in the middle of the Olympics?
I get the feeling like the Olympics are going to fall apart soon or at least change drastically. With a budget of $1B for security alone it just doesn't make sense any more. The ticket prices are outrageous IMO and precludes it from being an even for the people. Short Track speed skating is 5 blocks from my house but there's no way I can afford $250/ticket for the nose bleed seats. I'm going to try to the box office on the day of some of the heats to see if a more reasonable price magically appears but I'm not holding my breath.
On the positive side I'm going to try and take full advantage of the free events especially the concerts by my favourite bands from Quebec. I walked around downtown last weekend and starting feeling the excitement. The light display at Vanier Park is neat and it's nice to see skating at Robson Square again. I'll have to see if I can get on the Zip-line there too.
Canada has been doing well in a lot of world cup events so there is a lot of pressure on the athletes. The luge team has been offered $500,000 to the first to win gold with another $500,000 going to the team. I find that very off putting. It must be difficult for the athletes to be caught up in all of the politics when all they want is to do their best.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 10, 2010 - 02:53pm PT
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On a more positive note, who are the local favorites from Vancouver? When our guys suck, I can cheer for them.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Peenemunde
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Feb 10, 2010 - 03:05pm PT
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When I was in Vancouver 20 years ago I had someone come up to me and try to sell me drugs. Saw Hookers in broad daylight down near the convention center.
Juan
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 10, 2010 - 05:38pm PT
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One of the many cute and entertaining things that's being done, in addition to Tami's Cirkids, is something called Vectorial Vancouver. A large number of big searchlights have been positioned on both sides of the harbour - about a dozen. They're on every night, all night. The public can go to the website (http://www.vectorialvancouver.net/home.html);, and 'design' a pattern. A few minutes later, they send you an e-mail telling you when 'your' lights will be shown, and it's also (gimmick) sent to whoever you select. The time lag can be several minutes or several hours, and of course you have to allow that the lights are only on at night, and the time the 'receiving' person will see them.
Here's my creation from last night, squandering untold kilowatts. I sent it to a cousin in Norway I recently stayed with.
Of course, most nights the lights will do little more than ensure that the clouds and fog have unusually good interior lighting. Timing is everything.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Feb 10, 2010 - 06:34pm PT
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I will be chearing for a young US Alpine Skier, Tommy Ford from Bend, OR. I think he is 21 and is a former 16 and under US National Champ in SG, Sl and GS. My son raced with him at Mt. Bachelor. I heard he likes climbing too and he is built more like a climber than an Alpine Racer. Go Tommy.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Feb 10, 2010 - 10:19pm PT
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i heard Wayne Gretzky will light the games?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 10, 2010 - 11:14pm PT
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An inukshuk - an Inuit cairn, and symbol of the Olympics - being visited by troll friends from Norway. They have a lot in common.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Feb 10, 2010 - 11:54pm PT
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I saw a bit on BBC on the drug scene in Vancouver. I like to think I've
been around but it was pretty shocking. Certainly not the Vancouver I remember from not long after Sir George's visit. What happened?
I skiied Whistler the year it opened and a few times since. Is there another major ski area in N America where they hand out plastic rain gear when you get on the chair at the base?
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